Vandals hit Rogersville business, park, church

ROGERSVILLE - Rogers- ville police are hoping the community will help lead them to the culprits responsible for a rash of vandalism this past weekend including a local church.

Damage to East Rogersville Baptist Church was discovered Saturday morning and likely occurred over the previous night.

Rogersville Police Department Detective Travis Fields said Tuesday that the vandals spray painted the front door of the church, on the outside wall at the side of the church, and also damaged a brand-new $60,000 van that the church had purchased about a week earlier.

"The church hadn't even had a chance to use their new van yet before this damage was done," Fields said. "They scratched and chipped the paint on the van, and then spray painted it also. It looks like they started to paint some sort of design on it and gave up, so it just came out as a bunch of lines."

Fields said there is no cost estimate yet for the van damage, but he estimates it will be in the thousands.

The first vandalism was discovered Friday morning at the Main Street Beauty Salon, 1111 E. Main St., where someone broke the front plate glass window. That damage was estimated at $500.

The Rogersville City Park pavilion and restrooms were also damaged by vandals Friday or Saturday.

There were also a couple of residences vandalized around that same time period in which vehicles were damaged.

"The paint didn't appear to be any gang-related markings," Fields said. "I can't say for sure, but when you see a rash of vandalism like this happening all around the same time period, it's usually done by the same person or group. To me this looks like the work of kids."

Anyone with information about the rash of vandalism is asked to contact the RPD at 272-7575.